Bylaws: Our Beginning
It all began when we read the 1997 Newberry Medal book called Roll of Thunder: Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. We learned that sometimes roles are not fair or even right. This led us to examine a number of laws that weren't fair and weren't right. We questioned whose rights were being served by these laws.
We wondered about our own laws. This lead us to examine the bylaws in our own town.
Join us as take you on a journey into a number of bylaws, past and present, in a number of southern Alberta towns.
Imagining A First Town Meeting
Magrath Town Meeting – First Bylaws
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Small Town Southern Alberta
at the turn of the Century.
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Mayor attempts to deal with citizen complaintsThe Town of Magrath saw it’s largest turnout ever at the most recent Town Hall Meeting. Complaints ranged from dogs harassing citizens and chickens to speeding carriages to stampeding cattle to how to help single women to pay their obligations. Listen to how one grade six class from 2010 imagined just such a town meeting would be. |
How can a town of good, honest, hardworking people have so many problems? What is the answer? See how these students discovered why bylaws that may sound silly to us, were created to deal with the rights and freedoms of a town full of many diverse people. What problems might have happened to force the Town to enact bylaws that were fair and equitable to all – or at least the voting majority? |
